My friends have been posting (on facebook) photographs of the writers’ retreats they’ve been visiting in rural France and the truly sylvan parts of Pennsylvania. And I’ve been thinking, as yet another email threatening yet another deadline dinged in my inbox, “I could use some of that. I could use a lot of that.” My current life, wonderful in almost every way, is a writer’s assault.
I envy the productive silence of a retreat. But, unless I could bring Tony Kornheiser and Chelsea Handler with me, I would miss my excuses and distractions.
I also think retreats are more useful at some times in the writing process than others. I may be kidding myself, but I often feel that I couldn’t ever really spend more than an hour a day generating brand new material. Is this just me?
But some combination of immersing myself in a partially finished manuscript, reading books I already love, and walking around breathing deeply and pounding my chest and mumbling “that’s the ticket!” (mumble/exclaim? think John Cleese) is, at some future point, say 150 pages from now, really cool to contemplate.
That could be a while.
Yes, I highly recommend a residency! I was skeptical prior--but now hope to do one every year. It's good for the soul. Good for the writing. Now I'm back in Riverside and thinking: people need nature!
Posted by: Sari | August 03, 2008 at 08:04 PM
I know. E and I started looking at possibles places as soon as I posted this. Albert may also need a retreat. He claims he never gets anything done with the constant walks, treats and adoration.
Posted by: k | August 04, 2008 at 07:51 AM
It's hard to describe how much work you can get done. Try it out!
Posted by: Mandy | August 11, 2008 at 12:17 PM
I'm thinking more and more about various kinds of retreat, decluttering, unplugging etc. to fight internet creep and to-do list creep.
Posted by: K | August 12, 2008 at 05:14 AM